Leverage
by AuroraBlackheart
Summary: Katara is captured by Zuko and used as leverage for the Avatar. But when the time comes will Katara want to leave? Crappy Summary but I can type better then I can summarize KataraZuko.


Katara and Aang stretched out on the saddle that Appa wore as Sokka made himself comfy on the head of the large white beast. They had just gotten free of Jet's gang and Katara hated herself. She had allowed someone to use her (and Aang's for that matter) abilities to do bad, he was going to hurt the Fire Nation but at a very high cost. The people of the valley would be free from the Fire Nation, Not only physically but spiritually as well. They would have all died. Sokka was now driving them around on Appa based on his instinct, the thing that really made them meet Jet in the first place.

"Don't beat yourself up Katara." Aang said from beside her.

"What?" Katara asked almost confused.

"What Jet made you do, it isn't your fault. We should have listened to Sokka but we decided to listen to Jet, but in the end the only person hurt was Jet. I guess what I'm trying to say is that what Jet made you do isn't really your fault." The bald boy said smiling.

"Thanks Aang." Katara said smiling.

"Hey Aang!" Sokka called from Appa's head. "Mind getting up here and driving this thing? I think I'm getting a rash from sitting like this." Katara and Aang looked to each other and smiled.

"Go on Aang, I'm sure Sokka will provide just as much company as you did." Katara said softly. Aang nodded and ran up to Appa's head taking Sokka's place behind the reins.

"Appa yip yip!" Aang said as soon as the reins were in his hands. Appa brayed and zoomed towards the water below. Sokka who had barely reached the saddle held onto Appa's horn.

"HEY!" Sokka pulled himself onto the saddle and Katara laughed behind him. "Watch what you're doing next time!"

"Sorry Sokka." Aang said innocently pulling Appa into a position parallel with the water.

"So where are we headed this time?" Sokka asked finding a comfortable batch of fur next to Katara.

"The same place we've been headed all this time." Katara said softly. "The North Pole."

"Oh yeah." Sokka said as Momo ran beside him and onto his shoulder.

Their conversation ceased and they continued to fly but our scene changes to a Fire Nation vessel where a teenage boy was shouting angrily at an old man.

"What do you mean we have no idea where the Avatar is!" Prince Zuko yelled angrily at his uncle. "We were hot on his trail and… and…"

"Zuko…" Iroh chimed, "Have patience we will catch the Avatar eventually."

"You mean after he stops the war!" he growled as the candles that lit the vessel's room flickered.

"Just be patient, remember that life comes one day at a time." Iroh said chuckling.

"Just leave me." Zuko said pushing his uncle out of the room.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone with your schemes." Iroh said with a smirk. Most likely the next place he would go would be his room where he would sleep for a few hours.

Zuko walked over to the metal table and hit his fist on it leaving a small dent. "I need to find the Avatar." He dug through a pouch on his belt and pulled out a ribbon with a large flat bead on it. "I should give this back as well." He murmured with a smirk. "That boy the Avatar travels with is clumsy and foolish, He isn't a warrior and those who would deem him one are just as foolish as he is." He sighed, "But the girl, the water bender is defiant and actually would show some power if under my control." He chuckled. "Harnessing the power of a self taught waterbender and the Avatar would help me quite a lot in proving my worth to my father." He growled lowly. "What do _I _have to prove to my father? He banished me because I dared to say that some of what he did was cruel. Slaughtering an entire village just because they refused to tell them who the earthbenders are. It was like overkill." Zuko sighed. "Why should I care why I got banished? Catch the Avatar, give him to Dad, be accepted as the ruler of all four nations after the war. Don't worry about anything else, just the avatar." Zuko sat down in a chair and yawned falling asleep muttering, "Just the avatar…"

"We just took off!" Sokka complained.

"Well me and Appa are tired and you don't want to plummet head first into the ocean do you?" Aang said scanning below him for land. Sokka mumbled something but Katara could tell he could agree.

"Well think of it this way Sokka, I wouldn't mind getting a chance to relax in a lake for once. I mean the last time we actually relaxed was when we were with King Bumi." She caught the glance that Sokka had shot her. "You know, before he tried to encase us in stone."

"Land Ho!" Aang yelled Appa plummeting towards a green mass below them. When Appa landed Katara hopped off quickly and ran into the woods her braid swaying behind her.

"What's her problem?" Sokka asked almost angrily that she wouldn't help set up camp.

"Well think of it this way, she is like the most responsible and has to put up with a goofball and a really young avatar." Aang said dismounting the large white bison. "It has got to be stressful and she needs time to relax."

"I guess your right." Sokka said jumping off of Appa Momo still on his shoulder. "Wait what do you mean I'm a goofball!"

Our scene returns to Katara seeking a nice lake to relax in. She sighed finding so far nothing, then a familiar sound graced her ears. Rushing water. She turned back not wanting to venture too far off the beach. She could see the beach still but water could be loud and by the time she got to any relaxation place or a place that she could practice waterbending it would most likely be away from the beach but in Katara's mind it was away from Aang and Sokka.

Katara searched the woods quickly looking high and low not finding a single ounce of water.

"This is hopeless!" she said looking around for the water and saw nothing familiar. "And now I'm lost." She said moving behind a bush. What she saw next made her eyes light up. A waterfall cascaded over several rocks into a pool overlooked by several trees. "Oh my god, it's so beautiful." Katara said awestruck her head snapped to the direction of a yell.

"Katara! Where are you!" Aang's voice rang through the woods. Katara bit her lip and turned away from the waterfall.

"I'm right here!" Katara said running away from the pool into the woods.

Author's Notes:

Okay this is my first Avatar fanfic and I know it may seem like Katara is going a bit overboard in trying to relax but really she just needs time to collect her thoughts about this whole trip so far.


End file.
